Antisoma receives $75 million payment from Novartis

The payment was triggered by completion of the licensing agreement following regulatory clearance from US authorities, the company said. The drug, ASA404 is a small-molecule vascular disrupting agent which targets the blood vessels that nourish tumors.

Antisoma recently released positive data from a phase II trial testing the addition of the compound to first-line docetaxel chemotherapy in hormone-refractory prostate cancer, and the drug has also demonstrated survival benefit in patients with non-small cell lung cancer when added to paclitaxel-based chemotherapy in a phase II study.

Worldwide rights to the drug were licensed to Novartis AG in April 2007.